The present invention relates to a connector assembly that has an interlocking system for latching a male connector fitted on and engaging with a female connector.
Many types of connector assemblies each having an interlocking system of this kind are known in the art. The present invention is directed in particular to such an assembly as comprising a male connector housing (hereinafter simply called xe2x80x98male housingxe2x80x99) and a female connector housing (hereinafter simply called xe2x80x98female housingxe2x80x99). The male housing has a lockable lug formed on the outer surface thereof, with the female housing has a lock arm that is formed integral with a pawl capable of engaging with the lockable lug. Elastically deforming hinge-shaped legs secure the lock arm to the outer surface of the female housing, which has also a push lever formed on the rear end of its lock arm and disposed in rear of the hinge-shaped legs.
The interlocking portions of the male and female connectors in the described prior art structure are not necessarily sufficient in their mutual retention and in their own mechanical strength. This is because the hinge-shaped legs connecting the lock arm to the female housing are comparatively weak. The prior art structure has rendered unstable its interlocking state, often failing to ensure reliable electrical connections, when used in certain vibrating machines such as automobiles. xe2x80x98Snap-fitxe2x80x99 feeling has also been insufficient when engaging the lockable lug with the lock arm, making it difficult to confirm their mutual connection from outside. Additionally, the handling and pulling of wire ends around the female connector has sometimes imparted such a distortion to the female housing as causing disengagement of the lock arm from the lockable lug. The mutual retention and mechanical strength of those lug and arm in the connectors may be reinforced to a considerable degree. However, this would result in another problem that they could not easily engage with and not smoothly disengage from each other.
A gap is present between the female housing outer surface and the push lever that is formed as a rear end portion of the lock arm. Due to such a gap, electric wire ends belonging to an adjacent harnesses have often pressed undesirably the push lever to unlock the lockable lug out of the lock arm. This drawback has been most prominent in case of arranging a number of wire ends within a narrow space such as those available in automobiles. In addition, electric wire ends of the neighboring harnesses have sometimes got in the gap to be jammed therein, accidentally catching the push lever and hindering the wiring operations.
The prior art assemblies each having the described interlocking system and having their connectors mated have been of such an overall length considerably great to render them larger in size.
The present invention was made in view of the drawbacks inherent in the prior art structure. An object of the invention is therefore to provide an improved connector assembly comprising a male and a female housing that are designed to moderately reinforce mutual retention and raise mechanical strength of them engaging with each other. The present improvement has also to be such that foreign wires belonging to an adjacent harness are surely protected from being got caught in a push lever that is provided as one of parts constituting an interlocking system in the connector assembly.
Another object is to provide the connector assembly further improved to be of a reduced overall length in a state of their connectors engaging with each other, thus rendering the assembly smaller in size and more resistant to external forces such as one prizing or wrenching its interlocking system.
In order to achieve these objects, the present invention provides a connector assembly composed of connectors and having an interlocking system, the connectors being a male connector having a housing (viz., male housing) and a female connector having another housing (viz., female housing) to be fitted thereon. The interlocking system comprises a lockable lug formed on an outer surface of the male housing, and a lock arm integral with a pawl corresponding to and engageable with the lockable lug, the lock arm being formed on an outer surface of the female housing. The interlocking system further comprises a pair of elastically deforming hinge-shaped legs each having one end integral with the female housing outer surface and also having another end continuing from the lock arm, in addition to a push lever having lateral ends formed integral with a rear end of the lock arm extending rearwardly beyond the pair of hinge-shaped legs. Characteristically, the male housing further comprises a guide tongue protruding forwards from the lockable lug and intervening between side slots, such that the guide tongue is capable of insertion in between the two hinge-shaped legs spaced sideways from each other in the female housing, with the side slots fitting on these legs. A pair of bridges continue from opposite side walls of the female housing so as to be integral with lateral ends of the push lever.
Preferably, each of the bridges disposed beside the push lever may be of a curved shape.
In detail, the male housing of the male connector may be regarded as a box of a rectangularly-parallelepiped shape, and a plurality of pin contacts held in this connector protrude into a cavity that is defined in the box so as to have a fore end opening. On the other hand, the female housing of the female connector is also a parallelepiped fitting in the cavity of male housing, and a plurality of compartments is formed in the female housing so as to correspond to the pin contacts. Socket contacts secured on the ends of respective wires are accommodated in the respective compartments to be isolated from each other. Preferably, the hinge-shaped legs of the female in housing are located inside the respective and corresponding bridges continuing to the lateral ends of the push lever so as to match the side slots.
In the above interlocking structure, the hinge-shaped legs and the pair of bridges may be designed to be of a moderate bending strength (elasticity) in order that rigidity of the lock arm as well as mutual retention and mechanical strength of the housings in their latched state. The pair of bridges will guard the push lever so that any adjacent foreign wire ends will no longer catch or move the push lever, thus protecting the lock arm from any unintentional disengagement from the lockable lug. Further, the guide tongue jutting from this lug will be inserted in between the hinge-shaped legs, with the side slots fitting thereon. This feature is advantageous in that the present assembly of the connectors is smaller in overall length when they are engaged with each other, further rendering the assembly more resistant to external forces such as a prizing or wrenching one.